COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE INFODEMIC OF DISCORDANT PROPHECIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The present paper sets out to examine the phenomenon of proliferation of prophecies in Nigeria particularly as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus is on Christian prophecy as reeled out by some acclaimed Nigerian pastors. The approach is both analytical and phenomenological. It is discovered that, the infodemic of contradiction prophecies grossly deviate from the raison d’être of Christian prophecy. In the circumstances of COVID-19, it impedes the authentic efforts to combat the spread of the disease by dissemination of wrong information about the pandemic and brings about social division. The otherworldly and extraneous nature of the prophetic ministry vitiates its application to methodic or systematic solution of problems. Borrowing a concept from the field of public health, the paper sounds a caveat that such discordant prophecies should be “quarantined” and be taken with a pinch of salt. This simply makes a clarion call for skeptical attitude towards the prophecies.